Ripper Street

Ripper Street Begins today on BBC One at 9pm!

Here are a few articles recently published on Ripper Street that haven't been mentioned earlier

CSI Victorian London

Matthew Macfadyen takes on the role of Detective Inspector Edmund Reid, who works in the police precinct H Division. His beat is only 1.4 square miles but it is packed with 67,000 people, some of whom are the most disadvantaged and troubled in London. He has his work cut out for him but, as Macfadyen says, he approaches it all with wit, vim and vigour.

"What I find interesting about him is that there's nothing jaded or on the back foot about him," says the actor. "I wanted to get away from the sort of classic, seen it all, done it all copper and he's definitely not that. He's quite progressive and interested in technology and the innovations of the age, which were enormous, especially in Victorian times."

Macfadyen was impressed by the "vividly written" script and its "fantastic energy".

He thinks it feels cutting edge despite being set in 1889, thanks to Reid's intellect and his use of local maverick doctor Homer Jackson to help him solve crimes, and his ex-army colleague Bennett Drake to keep people in order.

"Things were happening at an alarming rate, technologically. And so I think Reid and his team would think of themselves as very modern and very progressive, which is interesting because this was an age where the amazing advances that we take for granted now hadn't happened: forensics, forensically fingerprinting and DNA," he says.

Macfadyen also loved filming in Belfast, where the world of Victorian London, with its dark alleys and shady doorways, has been lovingly recreated to the point where you can almost smell the smoke in the air.

"It was like a big playground," he says. "We were able to create a big street [inside a studio], it was great."

 Radio Times Video Preview

RT TV editor, Alison Graham said: "Richard Warlow’s full-on script, in the first of an eight-part series, and the excellent production design pull us straight into Ripper Street. You can almost smell the stench of a capital groping its way to prosperity after the Industrial Revolution. But it’s a strange thing, a stylised oddity and, oh my, it’s very kinky."

Female First

With Matthew Macfayden and Jerome Flynn at the heart of the show though, the BBC are assured great performances from them, while we can’t wait to see the first UK outing for American actor Adam Rothenberg as the third of our trio of detectives.

Ripper Street: Scotsman Magazine Interview with Matthew Macfadyen

There is a fabulous interview with Matthew Macfadyen that has appeared in the Scotsman Magazine today.  In it, he talks about Spooks,  how he hates the Red Carpet, and, of course, his thoughts on Ripper Street.

He does mention how a recent project called Epic, appears to have fallen through due to financing.

One exciting mention was the following quote:

Yet there seems little likelihood of Macfadyen falling out of favour with the viewing public. Good looks and his memorably brooding performance as Mr Darcy opposite Keira Knightley in Joe Wright's 2005 movie version of Pride and Prejudice means the 38-year-old commands an army of followers; one website devoted to him is called darcylicious.com

It continues to be our pleasure to support Matthew and his fans!

(Thanks to Lorna for letting us know about this interview)

Update: Here is the link to the full interview

Ripper Street: It's a Ripper (The Sun TV Magazine)

TV Magazine went on location in Dublin during the filming of Ripper Street this summer.

 

And as we peer past a crowd of extras, a familiar figure emerges in the gloom – former Spooks star Matthew Macfadyen, all broad-shouldered and reassuring in a well-cut check suit.

“Everyone has got this terrible hangover from not finding the Ripper – and they’ve got real hangovers as well,” says Matthew, 38, who stars as Detective Edmund Reid. “There has been a little bit of Guinness.

 

 

And this is what costume designer, Lorna Marie Mugan had to say about dressing the male leads:

“We wanted to make the three lead men stand out. They’re all above-average height, but we brought in smaller extras to make them look even taller. Also, because Matthew’s character is a dapper gentleman, he had to have a strong-shaped coat and bowler hat.

Be sure to read the full article HERE.

 

Ripper Street: Evening Telegraph Interview with Matthew Macfadyen

MATTHEW MACFADYEN seems to be everywhere at the moment. When he’s not promoting laser eye surgery for a certain Harley Street firm, or providing voiceovers for a posh department store, he pops up in DVDs such as The Three Musketeers. However, for now he’s back on the box with this new period drama. ‘It’s a Victorian cop show really,’ he explains. ‘I had a few months of nothing then a load of scripts all came at once and this is by far the best. It’s such terrific writing — it just barrelled along.’ The new series follows a Victorian police division investigating murders on the blood-stained streets of London’s Whitechapel. Macfadyen plays Edmund Reid, a Detective Inspector who tried, and failed, to capture Jack the Ripper six months earlier. So when a young woman is found brutally murdered in a crime which bears the hallmarks of the Ripper, ex-police boss Frederick Abberline believes the killer is back. However, Reid believes a new evil is at work. Crime busting sagas in the Jack the Ripper era are nothing new, and even Matthew admits he was struck by a sense of déjà vu. ‘I saw the title and thought ‘This has been done before’, but it was so fresh, and it had all the qualities, interest and depth of a period drama.’

Ripper Street: Daily Mail interview with Matthew Macfadyen

The Daily Mail has an interview with Matthew Macfadyen, who describes the premise of his character, Edmund Reid. He goes on to describe some of the differences between himself and his "namesake".

Here's a quote from the article on filming location: 

It wasn’t always easy during the 19-week shoot though, because they were often held up by heavy rain: 

‘It was wet, cold and then very sunny.' says Matthew, 'it’s a soggy old place is Dublin. But actually we all loved filming there.

'The barracks were like a big playground, big enough to recreate a huge area of Whitechapel, and we filmed in Dublin Castle and Kilmainham Jail, all as if it was the East End of London.’

Be sure to read the full interview HERE.

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